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http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/361673p-307958c.html
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Whatever happened to journalistic objectivity? Would we have seen these headlines:
Catholic guns down woman, self
Jew guns down woman, self
Baptist guns down woman, self
The purely religious identification is irrelevant when it is obvious that neither of the people involved were actually following the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses, or even of the Bible.
jeff jackson has just been appointed to the gb.
he is a family friend from tasmania, a little island at the bottom of australia.
he is about 50 and claimed to be annointed when i think he was in his late 30's, as a great shock to everyone.
There have to be these younger Anointeds around to shepherd the flock through the Great Tribulation. The old folks won't make it.
And if The End continues to delay, look for more young people to suddenly get "the spirit" and declare themselves to be among the Anointed.
It is unthinkable at the organization will ever be in the hands of the lowly, second-class, Other Sheep.
i wrote the following comments in a response to joelbear's thread on the 4 steps to the new system.
but they were sort of off topic there, and i thought they might be of interest as a separate thread.
at one time, door to door work was highly effective.
The WT Society is now running on autopilot, with no charismatic leader at the helm like in the days of Russell, Franz, or Knorr. Even if changes would be beneficial, who has the power to carry them out?
Everything will continue on like it is until there is either a new leader or the rank-and-file revolt and no longer put up with the unnecessary burdens heaped upon them.
There is either myopia or a total disregard for the changed circumstances of life in industrialized societies. People just aren't home a lot now. And when they are, whether it is day, evening, or night, people don't want to be bothered by strangers. There are serious security problems people have to contend with, and they don't just let anyone into their homes or lives.
Jesus said the Kingdom message would be preached. He didn't say how to do it, or say it should be done just one way. When will the folks at headquarters wake up?
At our SAD both the Watchtower reviewer and the District Overseer ragged on young people who go or want to go to College. Notwithstanding that some college education is necessary to get even an average job these days, it was assumed that anyone who got higher education was materialistic, self-centered and glory seeking.
Many congregations now have two tiers of people. 1) Those who ignored everything the Society said about higher education and employment and who now enjoy the good things in life, and 2) Those who listened to the Society and ended up in menial jobs with low pay, and who are struggling along. Yet it is the well-to-do who get to go places (like unassigned territory) and do things for the congregation and who get a measure of prominence in congregation affairs (and appointments to "privileges" of service), because they can afford it.
The poorer ones, who slavishly followed the Society's directions, look on in envy at the periphery of things, barely able to contribute the "two small coins of very little value." (Mark 12:42)
Real faith, strong faith, should be able to withstand a little bit of education. The Society is doing a disservice to the young by constantly putting higher education down.
If someone is going out of the way to get in spiritual trouble, there are plenty of other opportunities available even if they never set foot inside a college or university.
i think ~150 a.d. is early enough for debunking any wt position: .
"and this food is called among us eukaristia [the eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as christ has enjoined.
for not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as jesus christ our saviour, having been made flesh by the word of god, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of his word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that jesus who was made flesh.
Gasp!!! What, no mention of field service, that most all-important delineator of true Christians??? Nothing about the preaching work, making disciples and hewing to the national average???
How could those people call themselves Christians? All they talk about is Jesus Christ!!!
Must be something wrong with them!!!!
i made an interesting find last evening.
i stumbled across a site purporting to be a jehovah's witness reform movement.
while it sees value in jehovah's witnesses, its primary purpose is to reform the governing body.
The problem is, the Reformers are talking, but who's listening?
There is no humbleness or humility in the leadership, despite the fact that they are always encouraging the rank and file to be humble.
The leadership don't listen to God (i.e., the Bible). So why should they listen to anyone else?
i wonder what i am doing wrong posting this?
i will try later..
An excellent point, A Paduan: The WT article says "works alone," but Ephesians says: "It [salvation] is not owing to works." Period.
But the mask is off: Though seeming at first to exalt undeserved kindness, or God's grace, both the opening and closing songs to this WT Study were firmly about works:
Song 213: "Working Together in Unity.'
Song 30: "Zealous for Fine Works."
So just in case anyone mistakenly thought that the Society was finally adhering to the Scriptures, the message is clear that for them it is really all about works after all -- first, last, and all the time.
They don't trust anything to God's grace (undeserved kindness). They can't even understand the concept.
i wonder what i am doing wrong posting this?
i will try later..
heathen, I appreciate your words. But I do not see a paradox at all; just a natural progression. When you love someone, you do things for them, you talk about them (positively). Love for Jesus Christ and Jehovah God naturally leads to talking about them and doing things to please them, as indicated by the Bible. Such deeds spring naturally from love and faith, they are not a matter of working our way to salvation according to the dictates of an organization. There is a difference between 'working out our salvation' (Phil. 2:12) and getting salvation by our works.
Deeds of love and faith are not the same as a highly regimented "preaching work." The preaching of the first Christians was not a regimented affair. It was rather spontaneous and informal. There were no commands to "do more." No one kept a record of hours or posted a national average. People of their own free will talked about Christ and lived Christian lives because love impelled them to do so, not an organization.
Also, Jesus said that the identifying mark of His followers would be their love for one another, not their preaching work. Again, this involves spontaneous feelings of the heart, not regimented duty. Our service to God should come from our own hearts. Not from the agenda of an organization seeking great things for itself.
That's how I see it.
i wonder what i am doing wrong posting this?
i will try later..
"For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not by works, lest any man should boast." -- Ephesians 2:8, 9 KJV
The issue is salvation. To be sure, Christians do works that stem from their faith, but they do not look to their works to give them salvation. Only the grace, or "undeserved kindness" (NWT) of God provides salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But in actual fact, Witnesses look to their works for salvation. Even the incapacitated, the lame and the blind are judged by how much "time" they spend in "preaching." If you don't "preach," you might as well forget about the new world and the Paradise. It's like saying, 'Jesus died for you, but you really have to make it on your own.'
i wonder what i am doing wrong posting this?
i will try later..
My problems with this study are found here:
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/94236/1.ashx
Even though Paul is talking about what he received from Jesus Christ, the WT has written Jesus out of the picture again.
Works-based religion undercuts the whole theme of the New Testament. It invalidates the Word of God just as did the "traditions of the forefathers" enshrined by the Pharisees. All this emphasis on doing and doing more is a heavy burden unworthy of the followers of the one who said, 'Come to Me and I will refresh you...for my yoke is light.'
